2 Fiddle Practice

2. FIDDLE PRACTICE "What's that 'orrible noise?" screamed Grandpa, his head popping up from a hatch on the fo'c'sle. "It sounds like a kraken pullin' the gizzards from a mermaid!" "Pardon!" said Jim Lad, moving one headphone aside. He'd been listening

2. “那可怕的声音是什么？”爷爷尖叫着，他的头从舷梯上的一个舱口探了出来。 “听起来就像海妖在扯美人鱼的砂囊！”“对不起！”吉姆·拉德说，把一个耳机挪到一边。 他一直在听

to some very loud heavy metal music to drown out Nugget's fiddle practice. Nugget had just started learning the fiddle, which is very much like a violin, but of a type favored by pirates and rogues. Grandpa had played his fiddle across the oceans and seas until recently passing it on to Nugget. Many years ago, he had been given his fiddle by a mysterious sea hag, and seemed to recall that his music had not been popular with other pirates. He did attract crowds of landlubbing children whenever he played ashore, but— other than Nugget and Jim— he had never been fond of sproglets.

配上一些非常吵闹的重金属音乐，盖过纽格特练习小提琴的声音。 纳金刚开始学拉小提琴，它和小提琴很像，不过是海盗和流氓喜欢的那种。 爷爷一直在大洋彼岸演奏他的小提琴，直到最近才把它传给了纽格特。 许多年前，一个神秘的海巫婆给了他一把小提琴，他似乎记得他的音乐在其他海盗中并不受欢迎。 每当他在岸上玩耍的时候，他的确吸引了成群结队的在陆地上玩耍的孩子，但是——除了纳格特和吉姆——他从来都不喜欢小男孩。

Unfortunately, Grandpa had been forced to give up playing when the king chopped off his hand— but that's a story for another time. Right now he was regretting that he had given it to Nugget. "Curses!" hollered Grandpa. "Why didn't I give her my flute instead?" But Grandpa knew why he'd given Nugget his fiddle. She'd been obsessed with it since she was a baby. She would rock wide-eyed in her crib as Grandpa skipped about her cabin, playing sea shanties on it and singing in his croaky voice.

不幸的是，当国王砍掉了爷爷的手时，他被迫放弃了演奏——但这是另一个故事了。 现在他后悔把它给了纽金。 “诅咒！”爷爷叫道。 “我为什么不把我的笛子给她呢？”但是爷爷知道他为什么要把小提琴给纽格。 她从小就对它着迷。 当爷爷在她的小屋里跳来跳去，在上面玩海上棚屋游戏，用他沙哑的声音唱歌时，她会睁大眼睛在婴儿床上摇来摇去。

On her fourth birthday, Grandpa had gifted the fiddle to Nugget and started to teach her how to play. He told Nugget that the more she practiced, the better she would get. That was a few weeks ago, but her playing hadn't improved much. It wasn't because Nugget was short on enthusiasm— she loved playing her fiddle and practiced several times a day. But whenever the Jolley-Rogers spotted her opening her fiddle case, they would all find something to do, as far away as possible. Jim Lad found that this was the best time to don his headphones.

在她四岁生日那天，爷爷把这把小提琴送给了纽格特，并开始教她演奏。 他告诉纳格特，她练习得越多，就会做得越好。 那是几周前的事了，但她的演奏并没有多大进步。 这并不是因为纽格特缺乏热情——她喜欢拉小提琴，每天练习好几次。 但每当乔利-罗杰斯发现她打开小提琴盒时，他们都会找点事做，越远越好。 吉姆·拉德发现这是戴上耳机的最佳时机。

Jim's dad usually resorted to ship maintenance and had finally gotten around to tarring the deadeyes. He was listening to country and western music on the ancient personal stereo he'd had since he was a boy. His headphones weren't as good as Jim's, but he was also farther away from Nugget and hanging over the side of the ship, caked in tar. Bones, the Jolley- Rogers' three-legged dog, was howling on the poop deck. Jim's mom was relaxing in the crow's nest, high up the mainmast, where the screeches of Nugget's strings were whisked away on the wind. She was eye- splicing a line and listening to Dull FM:

吉姆的父亲通常求助于船舶维修，这次终于抽出时间给船底涂上了沥青。 他听着乡村音乐和西部音乐，用的是他从小就有的老式立体声音响。 他的耳机不如吉姆的好，但他也离纽格特更远，挂在船舷上，身上粘满了焦油。 乔利·罗杰斯号的三条腿狗骨头在船尾甲板上嚎叫。 吉姆的妈妈正在桅顶高处的瞭望台上休息，纳格特琴弦的尖叫声被风吹散了。 她正在缝着线，听着沉闷的调频广播。